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22 June, 2015

As part of a high school English project several years ago, I wrote the first chapter of a novel. I wrote a few more pages, but then life happened, and a floppy disk on Apple 2e, was a little less than reliable.. a few years ago, I decided to give it a shot again and started another one.. but didn't get more than a few pages in before my laptop gave up the ghost..

Well, I've decided to give it another go. This time, I am several pages in. I don't know what direction I want to take it, but I've got a few ideas. I've decided to post the first chapter here. It may evolve to become the preface rather than chapter 1, but I'm a long way from having to make that decision.

As always, I encourage feedback, let me know what you think.. and if you pick up a book and read this, would you keep reading? I may share more in the future, but for now, this is it.

Chapter 1

He collapsed into the
chair in the empty lounge. It was a long day, and he was still
getting used to life on Mars. He had all the physical training before
he left Earth, but simulators can only go so far. As he gazed out
through the glass dome of the compound, he looked to see if he could
see Earth, but this time of year, the Earth is on the other side of
the sun.

“The final tram to the
residential compound will be leaving in 15 minutes. Once again, the
final tram for the residential compound will be departing in 15
minutes.” The PA system echoed through the abandoned lounge.

The tram to the dorms was
a 35 minute ride. He considered just crashing in his office again,
but he really needed to get back, so he grabbed his stuff, and headed
to the station. It was the last work day of the week at the center,
so the tram station was almost as empty as the lounge he had just
left.

“Hey Dave, running late
again?” asked the conductor.

“Yea, you know how it
is..” he responded as he stepped on the tram seconds before the
automatic doors slid shut. He turned to find a seat. The last tram of
the week was routinely light, and today was no exception. They had
considered eliminating it to cut costs, but the workers voiced strong
disapproval, and since the tram was solar powered, it really wasn't
going to save a lot.

Dave found his seat. He
liked sitting by the window on the left side of the tram on the way
home. It had a better view of the Martian landscape. The route took
them right past where the rover Opportunity first landed. The
remains of the landing pod can still be seen as they flew past.

The Roanoke station had
been originally set up as a mining colony. It is officially a colony
of the United States in conjunction with China, but due to the
remoteness, it is effectively self governing.

In the mid 2020s, a
subsidiary of a Richard Bronson company had developed a low cost,
unmanned cargo craft that could make the trip to Mars in less than a
year. It saved on fuel by not needing any life support systems. It is
basically an interplanetary dumbwaiter. The Lusitania II would haul
ore to Earth, and return a little less than 2 years later stocked
with supplies. Once it got up and running, they needed more and more
miners, and the population grew to a few hundred. Since there was no
reliable way to return to Earth, everyone was living under the
understanding that it was a 1 way trip. In the last 15 years, 7
people had tried to stow away on Lusitania II, only to be found
frozen solid when it docked in Mexico.

Then they figured how to
harvest ice from passing comets to refill the long dry ocean. And
that's when things started to change.